The son of Michael Jackson’s ex-maid yesterday burst into tears as he haltingly described for the first time how the singer allegedly groped him during private “tickle” sessions at a secret pad – then showered him with money.

The 24-year-old youth counselor recounted how Jacko allegedly first fondled him at age 7 as he innocently sat on the singer’s lap, watching TV cartoons, in the singer’s “hideaway” L.A. condo.

“He just started tickling me,” the man said, his wife listening intently from the front row of the Santa Maria courtroom as jurors furiously took notes.

“Then we went to the floor . . . tickling still . . . I’m tickling, and he’s tickling, and I’m tickling, and he’s tickling.

“It eventually moved down to my little private region . . . around my crotch area,” the man said. “You know, you’re 7, you don’t know something’s wrong . . . I probably did think it was weird but not super weird because you were tickling.”

He said he was then molested a year and a half later under much the same circumstances.

The man said the pair was on top of a sleeping bag watching cartoons at the clandestine condo.

“Michael was pretty much behind me, spooning me, and again with the tickling,” the accuser said. “It was longer, and I wasn’t laughing as much.”

When Deputy DA Ron Zonen asked him what “spooning” was, the man replied, “Something you do with your wife, your girlfriend.”

“He was touching me from behind in my genital area, and I was laughing,” said the man, whose mother was responsible for helping to clean Neverland, the condo and a Jackson family home in Encino.

For how long? Zonen pressed.

“Two cartoons’ worth, a cartoon-and-a-half worth,” the man surmised. “A ‘Woody Woodpecker,’ I guess, lasts four or five minutes.

“Pretty much at every tickle, there was money. Every time I was tickled, there was money given after. It was, ‘Don’t tell your mother about the tickling.’ ”

He said he received $100 each time.

But while the clearly nervous witness was mostly able to retain his composure on the stand describing the first two disturbing episodes, he broke down in sobs when asked to detail the final, more blatant instance of alleged abuse.

The man said he was 10 1/2, playing the video game “Streetfighter” from the couch in the arcade loft at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, when Jacko once again began tickling him.

Then “he reached on my leg, reached up to my privates,” the man recalled.

When the man initially broke down, he explained to the court, “It took a lot of counseling to get through this.”

At one point, Zonen asked the man whether he was touched on his penis or testicles – and he was too embarrassed to say either word. “I think Option 2,” he mumbled.

Jackson, 46, remained stone-faced throughout, only occasionally leaning forward to jot down a note on his pad at the defense table. He is on trial for allegedly molesting a now-15-year-old cancer patient in 2003 at Neverland.

Yesterday’s witness said he first admitted his own abuse to cops in 1993, amid another high-profile case of alleged molestation at Jacko’s hands. He acknowledged that he initially tried to deny it because “it was embarrassing.”

Defense lawyer Tom Mesereau tried to paint the man and his family as money-grubbers looking for a quick payout from the rich star.

Asked if he got any money from his story, the man replied, “Other than the money he [Jacko] put down my pants . . . it was a financial settlement.”

The man – who sells auto parts and works for a church anti-truancy program for a living – said he didn’t learn about the $2.4 million out-of-court settlement his mom got from Jacko over the alleged assault until he was 17.

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THE PEOPLE VS. MICHAEL JACKSON: DAY : 25

WHAT THE JURY HEARD:

The son (right) of Michael Jackson’s ex-housekeeper, arriving at the court yesterday, testified that the star turned playful tickling games into sickening fondling sessions when he was as young as 7. “He was tickling me. I was wearing shorts . . . He reached on my leg and I’m still laughing and he reached up to my privates,” the witness said.

MOST SHAMEFUL MOMENT:

Jackson’s fans broke into loud laughter when defense lawyer Tom Mesereau asked the son of the singer’s ex-maid why he didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse for several years. The ploy prompted the judge to angrily chide, “I’m not going to put up with that.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: ‘He’s the light-complexioned gentleman.’ – Accuser son of Jacko’s former maid, smiling as he gestured at the singer when asked to identify him in court